Car-door-locking device



Aug. 5 1924.

M. F. cox

CAR noon Locxm'a DEVICE Filed Apr-11 sa. 192.3

Hfs Arne/Vey IIIIIIIN?,l

Y NN Vinum Ille Patented Aug. 5, 1924.

MILLARD FILLMOBE COX,

FICE.

OF LDUISVILLE, KENTUCKY. n

CAR-DOOBc-LGCKING- "DEVICEX AppIcation filed April 30, 1923. Serial No. 635,474..

VTo aZZ whom t may concern.'`

Be it known that I, MILLARD FILLMQRE Cox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the count-y of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a certain.

new and useful Improvement in Car-Door- Locking Devices, of which tlie'following is a full, clear, concise, and 'exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in car door looking devices. Y

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient door supporting device which will also operate vto wedge `the doors to a'fully closed position.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a common door raising means for a plurality'ofdoors and independent wedging and locking means at each end ofthe respective doors closed.

The invention, is herein shown andk describe-d as applied to a dump car having transverse dumping doors and a center inember dividing the car into hoppeis located at each side of the longitudinal center. In cars of this construction it is. usual to dispose the door raising and supporting means within such longitudinal member thereby leaving the ends of the doors unsupported and as the car deteriorates, due to the wear incidental to service conditions, there is a tendency for the corners of the doors to droop with a resultant loss of lading through leakage. Furthermore, various types of mechanisms now relied upon to support the dumping doors have proved unreliable in service, thedumping door supports failing Y at inopportunetiines such as when the car is in transit sometimes resulting in derailment of the train and consequent damage to roadbed and equipment.

It is, therefore, also an object of theinvention to employ the improved door holding device as means auxiliary to the regular doory operating mechanism, to prevent the lading from being lost even though the main door locks fail in operation.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1'is a side elevational view of va portion of a twin door type of dump car, showing the improved locking devicey inV connection therewith,'the twin doors being in closed: position. 2y is a vertical,

sectional viewftaken transversely of the carA and corresponding substantial-ly tothe line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig..3 is a perspectiveview Vof the stationary supporting bracket. :Fig 4- is a fragmentary, perspective vviewv ofia portion of the door, illustrating the sleeve engaging bracket rigidly mounted onthe door. door supporting sleeve or link.

1n said drawing, l0 indicatesaportion of the vertical side wall of the car, 11 al` boty tom reinforcing angle therefor, A12 theouter hopper side wall converging inwardly for a distance as indicated at 13 near thelower end thereof'y and Vthence extended vertically butts 19, supported from a transverse wall- 20, whereby, the doors are to swing about axes extending transversely of the car. The doors swing oppositely wit-li their free edges meeting when the doors are in closed position, as clearly shownV in Fig. 1. The joint between the inner side edges ofthe doors 1?-17 and center sill 15 is sealed by means of ali-inclined strip 21 riveted to thecenter sill. Each ofthe doors is braced or rein forced along itsfree edge by an inverted :'U or channel shaped brace r22 riveted'thereto and terminating within the flanged side edge 23 of the door. As customaryon this type of cars, the two doors of the transversely aligned pair of hoppers are connected to be operated simultaneously, 'and to this end, the brace22 is continuous from one door to .the otherrextending below` and bridgingthe Fig. 5 is a perspective lview ofthe s an idler pulley 24 having a plurality ofv y guideways 25-25 over Y* which pass chains, or other flexible connections 26-26 having their ends 4secured to the respective'doors pulley 24C isl adaptedto turn on a shaft`28 rotatably mounted g in brackets 29, secured to the inner face of the respective center sill members ll-151. The connections 26 are adapted to be wound on the shaft 30 which. is disposed to one side of the hopper and provided With suitable locking mechanism, including` a ratchet wheel 31' rigidly secured to the shaft and a pawl 32 whereby the shaft is locked against reverse nieve-V ment, the pawl 32 being locked in position by means of a locking cam 33. The pawl 32 and cam 33 are pivotally attachid to a bracket casting 34 secured to the side of the car, said bracketV casting having journal bearing 34a formed therein for the shaft 30.

To positively close, and lock the doors in closed position, I emplpy the following` arrangement, it being understood that the arrangement is duplicated on each side of the car at the respective side edges of each door.

On each sideof the car I employ a stationary bracketdesignated generally by the reference character A. Each bracke` A is formed with a central body portion 35 lying` against the hopper side wall and riveted thereto, and oppositely extending arm portions 36-36 spaced outwardly with reference to the 'cent-ral body portion and connected thereto by means of transverse walls 37-37. The upper edge of each of the arms 36 has a portion thereof angularly disposed thereby providing a substantially horizontal surface 39 extending inwardly from the outer end of the arm and a downwardly inclined surface 38 extending in wardly from the surface 39, on which sleeve or link B is supported for slidin movement. The link B is preferabl lformed with vertical spaced side walls 40M 4U unit-ed by transversely ext-ending upper and lower walls 41 and 42. Said trans versely extending upper and lower walls are inclined relatively to each other, pref-- erably converging in a direction towards the hinge pivot of the doors. The uppr wallV 4l is formed on its inner face with a flat surface 43 adapted to co-act with surfaces 38 and 39 of the bracket A. the latter constituting a runway on which the link I is adapted to slide bodily. It will be evident that due to the surface 38 being slightly inclined downwardly in a direction towards the free edge ofthe door, the link B will tend to move to locking position by the force of gravity. The lower transverse wall 42 of the link is formed on its inner face with a similar flat surface `43 engageable with lower edge 45 of the bracket C. which is rigidly secured to the door. preferably, on the outer fiange 23 thereof;

The bracket G comprises ai body portion 46 lying against the side flange 23 of the doorand secured thereto, a projecting portion 47 spaced from the side ofthe door and a transverse .connecting wall 48. With the door in closed position, the lower edge 45 of the projecting portion 47 is so disposed that the edge 45 and surface 38 of the bracket converge towards each other and corespond respectively, in inclination to the `interior upper and lowrr surfaces 43 of the link B. 4

The brackets and mounted on the car body and door, respectively, are adapted to be substantially in alignment when applied to a perfect car which has accurately fitting doors, but in order to compensate for and relative displacement of the alignment of the brackets A and C due to unevenness in the parts as manufactured or nnevenness due to the condition of the car, such as warped doors and distorted car bodies when the device is applied to old cars, sufficient clearance is provided between the side walls of the links to facilitate engagement of the links lf with the brackets C the outer ends of the latter are chamfered at 47 as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

It will be noted that each of the arms 36 of the bracket A extends beyond the end of the corresponding bracket C a sufficient distance to permit the link B to Vslide clear of the bracket to permit door to open, without disengaging the link from the arm 36. The link B when moved out of its engagement with the door assumes the position as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l and due to the horizontal arrangement of surface 39 is retained in that position. Although the surface 39 is shown and described as being horizontal, it will be evident that the same may be inclined downwardly and outwardly toward the end of the arm and perform its func-V tion equally well. In order to prevent the links B from being lost stops are provided near the outer ends of the brackets A in the form of ferrules 49 through which securing rivets 50 pass, The ferrules 49 fun ther serve asv spacers to maintain the outer ends of the arms 36 of the bracket A .in proper alignment and the rivets 50 serve to support the outer ends of said arms.

Assuming that the doors are in closed and lockedY position, as shownin Fig. l, the doors are opened by striking the links B and moving saine towards the hinged ends of the'doors and out of the path of the brackets C to the positions indicated by the dotted lines, the pawl 32 is then released from the ratchet wheel 31 whereupon the doors swing open by reason of their own weight and the weight of the lading in the car` While I have shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention the same is mere ly illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Cil

I claim: j

A1. In a railway car provided with dumping doors, the combination with means for closing the doors and holding them in closed position; of wedging means for positively locking the doors in closed position, including a movable wedge member co-acting with fixed wedging members on the car and door respectively.

2. In a railway car provided with dump'- ing doors, the combination with means for closing the doors and holding them in closed position; of means for locking the doors in closed position including arms fixed to the car and doors respectively; and a mov able locking member adapted to embrace said arms.

3. In a railway car, provided with dumping doors, the combination with means for closing the doors and holding them in closed position; of an arm fixed to each door; a plurality of arms fixed to the car, each of said last named arms having a portion of the upper edge downwardly inclined; of a locking link slidably supported on each of said first named arms and adapted to be moved into locking engagement with the co-acting door arm, said link being supported by the inclined portion of said edge when the same is in locking position.

4. In a railway car provided with a dumping door, the combination with an arm mounted on the car body; of a second arm mounted on the door; and a member slid` ably mounted on said first named arm and adapted to be brought into engagement with said second named arm, said members and arms being provided with co-acting wedge faces. Y

5. In a railway car, the combination with the car body; of a dumping door pivotally mounted thereon; a bracket carried by the door; a supporting member mountedY on the car body, 'and a bodily displaceable wedge link member carried by the supporting member adapted to engage the bracket on the door to wedge the door in closed position.

6. In a railway car including a body and dumping door, the combination with a runway carried by the car body; of a bracket carried by the door; and a clamping device having oppositely disposed interior inclined surfaces adapted to co-act with the runway and the bracket respectively to maintain the door in closed position.

7. In a'railway car including a body and a dumping door, the combination with a pair of brackets carried respectively by the body and the door, said brackets having upper and lower edges so arranged as yto converge toward each other, when the door is in closed position; of a link member having surfaces adapted to engage with said converging edges to retain the door in closed position. f' 8. In a railway car including a body and a dumping door, the combination with a pair of brackets carried respectively by the body and the door; of a link member carried by and slidablymounted on one of the brackets, said link carrying bracket being extended beyond the other bracket to retain and support the link while other bracket.

9. In a railway car including a body and a plurality of pairs of transverse dumping doors pivoted thereon and meeting with their free edges adjacent to each other, the combination with a rail rigidly mounted upon thecar body adjacent the side edge of disengaged from the each pair of doors, said rail being provided with oppositely projecting arms; of a bracket mounted on the side edge of each door in alinement with one of said arms, each of said arms being extended beyond the bracket mounted on the door; and a pair of bodily displaceable link members carried Y on the said rail arms and movable into locking engagement with the brackets of said doors.

10. In a railway car includinga body and a plurality of transverse dumping doors pivoted thereto and meeting with their free edges adjacent each other, the combination with a bracket secured to the car body centrally between the doors, said bracket being provided with outwardly extending opposite runways spaced from the car body; of means for securing the outer ends of the runways to the side of the car body and'holding them inV spaced relation thereto; a bracket secured to the side of each door, said bracket being provided with an over-hanging portion Y spaced from the door and in alinement with the adjacent runway, said overhanging portion being provided with a beveled end; and a link movable on the runway, said link beingprovided with vertical walls on opposite sides of the runway, and upper inclined wall engaging the runway and a lower inclined wall adapted to engage the lower edge of the door bracket when the link is moved towards' the free edge of the door to thereby force the door to closed position, and positively hold the same closed.

Iny witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 26th day of April, 1923.

MILLARD FILLMORE Cox. 

